1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a Universal Ser. Bus (USB) connector which can be stably mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional USB connector is retained on a PCB by a pair of legs extending downward from a bottom wall of a shell of the connector. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,489 and Taiwan Pat. Application No. 86214395 disclose connectors of such kind. FIG. 1 of the attached drawings shows the electrical connector of Taiwan Pat. Application No. 86214395, which comprises an insulative housing 101, a plurality of contacts 102, and first and second shielding shells 103, 104 enclosing the insulative housing 101. A pair of board mounting legs 105 extends downward respectively from side walls of the second shell 104 for retaining the connector on a PCB (not shown) before soldering is performed.
However, when a mating connector is forcibly inserted into the connector, there will be excessive force and torque occurring in the board mounting legs. Such a force may cause deformation of the mating portion and even separate the board mounting legs from the PCB. Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional connector.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector which can be stably mounted on a printed circuit board for ensuring proper resistance of board mounting legs against the force applied thereto.
To achieve the above object, an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts, and a shielding shell enclosing the insulative housing. The insulative housing comprises a base section and a mating section extending forward from the base section. A plurality of passageways is defined in the mating section for receiving and retaining the contacts. Each contact has a mating portion for electrically engaging with a mating connector, and a tail portion extending beyond a bottom wall of the housing for electrically connecting with a PCB. The insulative housing has a bottom face wherefrom downwardly extending a plurality of standoffs. The shielding shell comprises two side walls connected by a top wall and a bottom wall defining a chamber therebetween for receiving the insulative housing. The bottom wall of the shell has front and rear portion from which a plurality of front and rear board mounting legs downwardly extends. When the connector is mounted onto the printed circuit board, the board mounting legs engages holes defined in the PCB for temporarily retaining the connector on the PCB. A soldering process may then be taken to more securely retain the connector on the PCB. The provision of the front legs effectively reduce load taken by the rear legs alone.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,